Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari

Early life and career

He received a Master of Commerce degree in 1972 at Andhra University, Visakhapatnam and taught Commerce at Andhra Vidyalaya College (affiliated to Osmania University). From 1972–1976 he was a lecturer of Commerce at Andhra Vidyalaya College, (affiliated to Osmania University) in Hyderabad, India and then left his career to dedicate his life to God and the alleviation of human suffering. He is an economist-turned-monk and his vision combines both aspects of his background.

Humanitarian work

He founded Lokenath Divine Life Mission (LDLM) in 1985 in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and currently serves as its mentor. Lokenath Divine Life Mission works in the field of education, health care and women's empowerment, utililizing microcredit self-help programs.

LDLM’s model, through a Self Help Group (SHG) model, is unique and different from any of the existing models practiced in India. According to Brahmachari, although his own method has the essence of Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus’, in practice and implementation it is totally different.

A former professor of economics, Brahmachari’s model aims at direct credit linkage between banks and SHGs, completely eliminating agencies that play the middleman, such as NGOs. LDLM’s role is to create SHGs through awareness, training and organisation and then enable their credit linkage with the banks.

LDLM also performs resource linkage as well as addressing targeted areas of need and collaborating with other organizations on additional programs. The mission’s goal is sustainable development and does not use traditional charity. Shuddhaanandaa, "We work to awaken the commitment and potential within the poor to become self-sufficient. The Mission forms a partnership with them. We offer them the training and foundational supports they need to work together, building a new and better future for their communities."

Motivational and spiritual teacher

In 2005, he founded the Stress Management Academy, and began conducting global seminars on breathing, relaxation, meditation, mindfulness and positive thinking for schools, corporations, hospitals, prisons and other venues under his Course of Mindfulness program.

Awards and major speaking engagements

He addressed the Parliament of World Religion in Chicago, (1993) and Barcelona (2004), was a keynote speaker at the Global Youth Conference held at the Capital Center, Washington, DC (1993), and was a special invitee to the United Nations World Millennium Summit of spiritual leaders in New York, (2000). He was a keynote speaker at the International Conference on Spiritual Paradigm for Surmounting Global Management Crisis in Varanasi, India in 2012, 2013.

He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the S.T.A.R foundation at the House of Lords in the United Kingdom on July 21, 2015 for his invaluable and outstanding contribution to society. He was presented the Award by The Rt Hon, Lord Hunt of Wirral MBE

Teachings

Shuddhaanandaa speaks and writes regularly about the merits of mindfulness and meditation to reduce stress and create a more holistic, simple life. His philosophy is that happiness is not something that one can get by demanding it from others, but by sharing their inner sense of contentment in life with others first. He teaches that the purpose of mindful meditation is not to achieve anything, but to reach a state of letting go, a profound state of relaxation. It is in this powerful state of mindful meditation that he believes that great innovations and creative genius happen.

He advocates for the development of management education to create better leaders for the future. He says

Management Schools are the training ground for the future leaders in every field of human endeavor. A true leader needs a holistic orientation of life. Mindfulness prepares the ground for the growth of consciousness that sharpens attention and expands awareness to be more inclusive and integrated in life.

Books

Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari is also a spotlight writer for OM Times e-zine.